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Alpicool's KM family answers water appearing where it should not in a particular order, and a split or pinched fill line is at the top of it. The brand-generic page opens elsewhere, and the ranking below says which cause moved and what moved it. Of the causes listed here, all but one are owner-checkable, and a drain trough that has iced over is the one worth ruling out immediately after the first.
What this looks like on a KM unit
- Water appears on a schedule rather than at random — Anything on a schedule is following the defrost cycle.
- Ice building under the drawers — Meltwater freezing before it drains does this.
- Damp at one corner only — The low corner is where meltwater goes when the unit is not level.
- Beads of water on the outside of the door — Warm room, cold surface, and no fault at all.
- The floor is wet only in humid weather — Condensation rather than plumbing, and it is fixed at the seal.
- More than one KM unit shows the same thing — With 2 builds under this key, the same behaviour across two of them points at the family rather than at one machine.
- NEAR MISS — a hiss or a gurgle with no water — Flow noise is normal and belongs on the noise page.
Causes, most likely first on the KM family
- A split or pinched fill line — It is the first thing to rule out on these models. It is found by following the line rather than by watching the floor.
- A drain trough that has iced over — It follows the lead on these models. The ice is upstream of the drain itself, so clearing the drain alone does nothing.
- A cabinet that is not sitting level — It comes after the two above it. A small tilt is enough, and nothing about the unit looks wrong while it is happening.
- A cabinet liner or sealed-system fault — It ends the list. When every drain, seal, pan and line has been proved good, what is left is behind the liner.
- Body: The brand-generic article on this symptom opens on a blocked defrost drain. Here it does not: a split or pinched fill line has moved above it, and a blocked defrost drain has moved down the list. What moved it is the spread of the entries this family's model table carries.
Check in this order, and why
- Follow the fill line along its whole run for a split — Damage is where the line was bent against the wall, not where it is connected.
- Note whether the problem has been declared fixed before — A leak that returns on a schedule was never the drain.
- Put a level on the top and check the feet — A small tilt sends meltwater forward instead of back, and the drain never sees it.
- Establish whether the water is coming from behind the liner — Nothing behind the liner is reachable from outside.
- Body: Read the plate before starting: the KM pair are one step apart, and a check aimed at the wrong member wastes the visit rather than the minute.
Safety first
Safety
Power off first, every time. Unplug the appliance or switch off its breaker before removing a panel, since a capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. Leave the door switch wired as it is: it cuts the fan when the door opens for a reason, and defeating it puts a hand near a blade that is still able to turn. Anything on the sealed side belongs to a licensed technician. That line does not move because a fault is small or a part looks accessible.
Models in the KM family
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| KM15 | alpicool:refrigerator:km |
| KM20 | alpicool:refrigerator:km |
When to call a technician
On this family the split is simple: anything reachable without removing a panel is owner work, and nothing past that is. Work down the checks above first; they cost minutes and they remove most of this list. Call once they have all come back clean, because what is left is a cabinet liner or sealed-system fault, and that is where the list stops being owner work. Skip the rest of the list and call if the unit is tripping protection repeatedly. A circuit that keeps opening is telling you something the checks above cannot.
Other KM pages
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